January happenings.

I love a new year and a new beginning. When we returned home from Colorado, this little baby was waiting for us. We had ordered it after Christmas. For some reason, Jeremy had thought a magical Santa was going to buy us a blender. That didn't happen. So we bought one ourselves and I love it. We have used this thing nearly every single day since getting it.

 

Abe has the largest veggie intake of the boys because he loves these green smoothies. He helped me fill this container with spinach, banana, frozen mango, a splash of orange juice and some water. He pushed the button to blend. And quickly slurped it down.

The schools in our area headed back and we took an extra week of play. Well, the boys played and I organized my house from top to bottom. Spring cleaning in January and it was fabulous. And it really involved no cleaning. Even better. :) But then we headed back to our books. It took us a good week to get back into that routine. And now we are rolling right along.

 Some school outside in the sunshine. Pax will read multiple chapter books in a day. I really can't even believe it. Is he going to be a writer or what? He has a great hunger for words and reading. I have just never seen anything like it. Except if I didn't have many responsibilities in this life I could sure plow through some books. But I was not this way at age 6.

 Some school inside at the desk. Writing can be painful. Physically painful to my boys. ;)

And this little guy. He would LOVE it if I set him in front of a TV the entire time we were doing school. I'm always saying "go play". And apparently that is hard for this one's personality or age. I'm not sure which. But so far the fire truck tent filled with a few toys and books keeps him occupied for a while.

 I've been showing some tough love to the 6 month old injury. At the end of December I saw my orthopedic and she said I was free to head back to Camp Gladiator. That the physical strain and activity on my arm would be good for it by extending the range of motion of my wrist and breaking up the scar tissue from surgery. Sounds pleasant, right? :) She said it would be sore and probably "flare up" with the increased movement. So I headed back this month. And it sure has "flared up". That picture is just a big swollen area around my incision. Going back to CG, I realized how very out of shape I am compared to last January when I had been running several miles a week. And I'm still somewhat limited with the injury. But I'm back it. It's fun and it's a special part of my day. A time just for me that I thoroughly enjoy.

 I've had a couple of one on one dates this month with my big boys.

 Both dates included fro-yo.

We met up with some church friends at the MLK parade in downtown Fort Worth. This was our first MLK parade. The boys loved it. Marching bands, music, cars, motorcycles and people throwing candy. What more could a little boy want? I'm so thankful and proud to be part of our church.

 It was so cold that morning.

 So they warmed up with hot coco on their way home. I bought one hot coco and Starbucks split it for me between 3 cups. :)

 We had a last minute dinner out with friends at Abuelo's. And this little pair are an affectionate couple of boys. Pretty sweet friends.

 Abe and Cruz. The fun of being 3. 

And little brother, Rico, looks like a sweet little baby doll. 

 We had a family movie night with popcorn. Mainly because Jeremy and I hadn't watched Aladdin in YEARS and we wanted to see it. :)

And this athletic little boy can now out run me. :( Holy moly what happened? I've always won in the past. He and I went on a bike ride one Friday when Jeremy was home. We played at the park and I decided we should race on foot. I picked a longer distance because Holden has always gone full steam and then puttered out. But this time...he won. Big time. He even ran backwards at one point and taunted me. I raced him a second time. And he won again. I don't claim to be fast. At all! But he's 7. And I'm taller. Not by a ton, but I'm still taller. I hope hope HOPE he'll be my running buddy in future years.

And this weekend we will close up January by celebrating Jeremy's birthday! He will turn 36 on Saturday. Some friends are watching the boys for 2 nights while we have a little getaway by ourselves. It's been over a year since we've done this and you don't even know how much I'm looking forward to this weekend. And that is a little of what we have been up to this month.